An armored vehicle and tank commonly comprise a chassis on which is mounted a respective armored vehicle or tank turret rotatable relative to the armored vehicle chassis or tank chassis with a weapon disposed within the turret. They further comprise an azimuth and an elevation drive motor to, respectively, rotate the turret and elevate the weapon. In a typical manned turret an operator within the turret controls the drive motors.
In certain vehicles a turret ring gear is attached to the turret and thus rotates with the turret responsive to operator control of the azimuth motor.
In other vehicles the turret ring gear is affixed to the chassis. In this configuration the azimuth drive motor is disposed in and attached to (either directly or indirectly) the turret. The azimuth drive motor thus rotates with the turret. Therefore a manual crank in the chassis cannot be used to turn the azimuth motor and thus rotate the turret.
Additionally, advancements in armored vehicle design now provide the capability of completely unmanned turrets, where the azimuth drive motor and the elevation drive motor in the turret are controlled remotely by a vehicle operator from within the vehicle chassis. Remote control is accomplished by electrical power and control signals carried into the turret from the vehicle chassis via a slip-ring mounted at the center of rotation of the turret. Since the turret is unoccupied and closed-off from the vehicle chassis, these drive motors are not accessible by the vehicle operator during vehicle operation.
When turret power is lost, back up batteries are used to power back-up azimuth and elevation drive motors. Alternatively, when power is lost manual inputs to each drive motor permit operation by hand. In the case of a manned turret, an operator within the turret can manually control the azimuth and elevation drive motors under loss-of-power conditions. To effectuate this manual/mechanical operation, the turret operator attaches a shaft or crank to either or both of the manual motor inputs and manually turns the shaft or crank to rotate the motor. For an unmanned turret that is closed off from the vehicle chassis, the drive motors are inaccessible for manual operation by the vehicle operator within the chassis. Owners and operators of such vehicles with unmanned turrets would benefit from a system that allows for manual remote operation of a turret-based drive mechanism in a configuration where the drive mechanism is not accessible from within a vehicle chassis.